Shake Shack, the burger brand, founded by serial restaurateur Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group in the US in 2004, has secured a second site in central London, M&C has learnt
The group, which opened its second UK site at Westfield Stratford last month, is understood to have secured unit 3 at 100 New Oxford Street opposite Centre Point for an opening later this year.
The company is close to completing a deal to make its regional debut in the UK, in Cardiff.
It is close to securing the empty G-Star unit on the first floor of the St David’s shopping centre in the Welsh capital for an opening later this year.
100 New Oxford Street provides 55,000sq ft office of space and sits within the same block as Starbucks, Kimchee, All Bar One and Joe and the Juice.
Shake Shack UK is operated by Diverse Dining, the company set up by Meyer and Shake Shack CEO Randy Garutti to operate the UK business. It made its UK debut in Covent Garden in summer 2013.
Nigel Sherwood, business director of Shake Shack UK, admitted late last year that expansion had been slower than anticipated and its debut site, split across a number of different areas in the piazza, had proved challenging from both an operational and branding perspective. However, the launch of a more traditional Shake Shack restaurant at Westfield will kick start expansion, he said.
“Ideally we would have had seven or eight Shake Shacks open by now. And, in hindsight, Covent Garden would have been our fifth or sixth opening, but we can’t knock it. We are ready to grow the brand now and Westfield Stratford City will be the springboard for us in the UK.”
London will be Shake Shack’s heartland, with it looking to open a handful of sites in the capital by 2018, with high footfall locations such as St Paul’s, Earls Court and Victoria being targeted. It is also eyeing major cities across the UK for subsequent locations, the most likely locations being Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Glasgow’s Buchanan Galleries development, with sites of around 4,000-5,000sq ft being sought.
